A History Major's Journey

[Westerner]

Feedback about my first 2 TESC courses These were both taken July-September 2013.

Leaders in History
Professor Donald Redden
Grade: A (99)

Part 1:

Alrighty, I'm currently doing this course (in Module 3 now) and here is some feedback

There are 2 required books, Certain Trumpets by Garry Wills and Traditional Classics of Leadership (a collection of writings by historical figures) by Wren, Hicks and Price. Modules 1 and 2 are about Certain Trumpets. Modules 3, 4, and 5 are about Traditional Classics. In Module 6, you'll be doing a Final Paper.

The 12-week course consists of 6 2-week Modules. Each module consists of reading (approx. 150 pages) from the assigned book. Then you do a post in the Discussion Forum and respond to at least 2 other posts. I try to keep my posts over 100 words. An average DP length in my class is about 300 words; responses are around 100-150 words. In Module 6 there's no Discussion Forum posting. Every 2 weeks there are 2 papers due—one "Reflection" (250-500 words) and one "Application (500-800 words).

My professor is Donald Redden. He's kind of a slow grader (he hasn't graded any of my discussion posts yet) but he gives really good grades. I had practically no experience writing college level papers before this so I'm thankful I can write papers he likes He's also very involved in the Discussion Forum.

I'm not finding the course hard. To tell the truth, this course has been easier than the Liberal Arts Capstone, which I'm doing at the same time. The hardest part for me is writing about myself! For some reason, I can write fine about others in history but when it comes to "write about how it relates to you" it's harder :p Thank God my papers along those lines have come out good enough to warrant good grades!

Part 2, after finishing the course:

Not much to add to my previous post about this course. This, from what I posted before, is pretty much the workload:

The 12-week course consists of 6 2-week Modules. Each module consists of reading (approx. 150 pages) from the assigned book. Then you do a post in the Discussion Forum and respond to at least 2 other posts. I try to keep my posts over 100 words. An average DP length in my class is about 300 words; responses are around 100-150 words. In Module 6 there's no Discussion Forum posting. Each 2 weeks there are 2 papers due—one "Reflection" (250-500 words) and one "Application (500-800 words).

The Reflection papers, where you write on a historical topic, were easier for me. The Application papers were harder because it asked for more personal examples.

In the papers and posts, you're discussing
-any or all of the 16 leaders whose bios are contained in Certain Trumpets, and/or
-the writings collected in Traditional Classics on Leadership, on moral, ideal, and legitimate leadership, followership and challenging authority.

Dr. Redden is a slow but generous grader. He posts a lot on the discussion forums and gives great insights (he's studied this topic a lot) Do make sure your papers are proofread and formatted right!

I got 100s on most every assignment and 99 on the final paper and as a course grade. If you like history, this course is a GREAT option! All reading and writing, learning about leaders from all different time periods and countries.

Liberal Arts Capstone
Professor Steve Ryan
Grade: A (100)

Part 1

Okay...4 weeks into the Capstone now and here are some thoughts

—You'll need to settle on a major question to be answered and develop 3-4 subquestions that relate in some way to the major question.

—Sample projects. PM some people who've done this class and ask to see their completed projects. It'll help SO much to get an idea of what you're aiming for. I've been referring to these projects a lot—like to see what kind of info a paragraph should have or to understand citing better ...

—The required books. Writing the Winning Thesis or Dissertation is the one you'll be using most. Even though it's written for graduate papers and some stuff is different or not applicable, it's pretty helpful in telling you how to write in the format you need to. The other one, Keys for Writers, I've been using like a reference whenever I need help in citing. There are also documents you get access to in the course that give additional info.

—Professors. I have Steve Ryan, and he's fantastic!!! Prompt and generous grader. Easy to reach and encourages emailing if you want to chat. Gives helpful suggestions. Really interested in helping you get a good project done here and gives you a lot of freedom to do it.

—Resources. I took my professor's suggestion and most of my sources for the Literature review were found using Google "advanced search," where I narrowed my searches to find lots of .edu sources. Also, Professor Ryan didn't put that a survey or interview was required, he just said that students enjoyed doing them and found them helpful. After he said that, I communicated with him about possible ways to do that. One thing he said was that you could even post questions on Facebook! I settled on this survey, set it up, and told him about it. He said that he's actually very flexible about this project if he knows you have ideas and are trying them out So, it might help if you email and talk to him about it...that really has been helping me.

—Modules. The 12-week course is divided into 6 2-week modules. Every 2 weeks, you read a few chapters of the Winning Thesis and write a chapter of your Capstone.

Module 1—Introduction
Module 2—Literature Review (gather books & articles about your topic and basically wrote a research paper on it; none of it should be your opinions)
Module 3—Methodology (how you're gathering information and conducting your research)

Part 2, after finishing the course:

Well, I finished the Capstone and got 100 on the final paper and as a course grade, praise God! I got 100s on every module but the Literature Review, on which I got a few points taken off because I'd not alphabetized the resources properly. I don't have much to add to what I put in my last post as far as info on the course and mentor--he (Professor Steve Ryan) was awesome! Here's some more on the last Modules.

Module 3--Methodology. Should basically tell what info you needed, your written sources (titles if you relied on them much) and anything else you did (interviews, surveys...) and how you did it.

Module 4--Results of Study. This is where you write about what your research has said so far. Since my sources were mostly documents, my Prof told me to basically summarize my Chapter 2 (Literature Review). Results of interviews or surveys should go here too--if they were a big part of your research, they should be the main bulk of the chapter. No opinions here either.

Module 5--Summary and Discussion. Finally, opinions!! Just do a recap of the topic, your methodology, and the results of your study on your subquestions. Then discuss!

Module 6--Putting everything together! Revise chapters, proofread. Make a table of contents. Make a bibliography or references page--ask your mentor which. Make an Appendix of interviews or surveys, if applicable. Put everything together and send it off! You really can't go wrong here if you've been fixing/adjusting things according to the mentor's feedback on your chapters and pay attention to including all the necessary info (references, TOC...) and formatting.

And that's it! Get it graded and now you have a research project you can be proud of!

[ironheadjack]

Awesome grades Westerner, congrats!!

Geez, that Capstone looks daunting. I am not looking forward to having to do one.

[Westerner]

Thanks, ironheadjack! I felt that same way about the Capstone at first. Picking a topic you enjoy is one important key. Even with that, it might get hard near the end, but keep pushing on and counting down the weeks!

"I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me" was a big help to me through that course, actually. And I was blessed with great professors who made it that much easier.

[corpsole2]

Thanks, Westerner, for sending me a copy of your capstone paper. It gave me a better feel as to layout.

I started my course on Tuesday, and I have Dr. Haydel as my mentor. I spoke with her at length yesterday on the phone, and discovered that she was the originator of this TESC course. She is very helpful and definitely steered me towards a good topic. I had misunderstood the nature of the project, because I thought it was more of a research paper. But she encouraged me to write about my experiences as a writer, and use the project to interview and survey other authors in my Facebook group. With that in mind, I re-wrote my Topic suggestions and re-submitted it for the first assignment. And since I usually get assignments done way ahead of schedule, I'll probably take a crack at the Introduction this weekend.

It's great to have others like you, Westerner, to show us how doable it is.

BTW, are you now slated for the December graduation, or will you have to wait for March?

[Westerner]

Awesome, corpsole2—it sounds like you have a great start! Glad I could help I'm always ready to share about distance learning & testing out, and this Forum has been such a help to me that I'm more than happy to give back

I'm actually not yet done with college I have 4 more elective classes to go, 2 of which just started. After this semester, I have one more that starts in January 2013. I'll finish all coursework in March 2014, but official graduation will be in June 2014. And I hope to go to the NJ graduation ceremony in September 2014

[corpsole2]

By September of next year, I hope to have either started some law school or business school program, or working in finance like I want to. So even though my B.A. course work will be finished by Christmas, I still have a ton of professional level studies scheduled for next year.

[Westerner]

Awesome! It's great that distance learning is helping you achieve your goals

[Lyanne]

I was wondering how you did, Westerner, as I realized you would have handed in your paper by now. I am so happy that you got an excellent grade, and I can't tell you how much I appreciated your help. I am working diligently on procrastinating chapter 5; watching BBC TV, reading books for pleasure, and of course keeping up with Facebook and Wordpress. I set up my subheadings and am just waiting for that moment when I can't wait any longer. I tell myself I write best under pressure.

I'm going to wait until May, I think, because I like 2014 as a number better than 2013. I was born and raised in NJ and my brother still loves there, so maybe I'll go, and those of us that are going can meet and have our picture taken together!

For anyone starting this Capstone course soon, please PM me for the books, and I will be happy to pass them along after October 27th when my class ends.

[Westerner]

Keep it up, Lyanne—you can do it!! That would be great if we could meet up at the Commencement!

[Gooberman11]

Has anyone here done the creative project instead of the research project? I would love to see how someone incorporates the paper to the project. I am starting Module 4 this week.